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>> And he said yes, I'm a->> Donald Trump might be about to heat up his trade spat with Beijing.>> It's the talk of the world.>> A source tells Reuters the administration plans to bump up proposed tariffs from an initial 10% to 25% on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods.

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That could be announced as early as Wednesday. And while the tariffs won't be imposed until after a period of public comment, raising them could quickly escalate the trade dispute. Investors fear that could hit global growth and prominent US business groups have condemned Trump's aggressive stance. But the US president isn't backing down.

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>> Everyone that greets me says hello, Mr. President. Congratulations on what you've done for the economy.>> On Wednesday China hit back saying that US blackmail won't work.>>

FOREIGN]

> If the US takes further escalatory steps China will take countermeasures and we will protect our legitimate rights.

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>> Reuters' Ben Blanchard reports the next few days will be ones to watch.>> One thing to watch out for this week is that the two top diplomats from the United States and China are both going to be in Singapore attending a regional forum. This traditionally is a place where high-level diplomacy takes place and also high-level diplomacy particularly between China and the United States.

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What message both countries give out after that meeting is going to be a very clear signal as to how both countries see the development of this trade war, which has deeply unnerved the region.>> In early July, the US government imposed 25% tariffs on an initial $34 billion of Chinese imports.

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Beijing retaliated with matching tariffs on the same amount of US exports to China. Now Washington might also impose tariffs on extra $16 billion of goods in the next few weeks. And Trump has warned he might go even further and ultimately put them on over half a billion dollars of goods, roughly the total amount of US imports from China last year.